Abstract

This chapter examines the Buddhist version of the eternalism-presentism dispute. While all Buddhists hold that no existing thing is eternal, some did claim that past and future things are existent in the same sense in which presently existing things are, while other Buddhists denied that past and future things may be said to exist. The chapter begins by discussing the question of whether time is itself a real entity, examining an argument developed by Nāgārjuna against the view that time serves as the container that makes temporal relations possible. The bulk of the chapter is given over to a prolonged examination of the arguments given for and against eternalism. A major difficulty for the eternalist is to reconcile their view with the Buddhist orthodoxy that all is impermanent. The presentist is faced with the problem of explaining just what the present is if there is no past or future.